Mysticism

Mysticism is a human pursuit of direct experience with ultimate reality or the divine, often through introspective practices like meditation, contemplation, and prayer to transcend ordinary consciousness and achieve union with a higher power or truth. It involves transformative experiences that go beyond intellect, seeking direct knowledge of spiritual truths and potentially leading to profound personal and spiritual development. 

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Ever notice how some people seem to spot opportunities before anyone else? Almost like they're reading a rulebook the rest of us never received.

Ancient civilizations often spoke of "awakening" as if it unlocked access to a deeper layer of reality. Maybe they weren't talking about magic at all. Maybe they were describing awareness. The more of the bigger picture you can see, the less life feels random. Every choice, every challenge, every unexpected twist becomes another piece of a much larger puzzle. It's like finally understanding a game that everyone else has been playing on autopilot. The hidden rules don't suddenly appear — they were always there. You just begin noticing them.

That's the strange part about consciousness. It doesn't change the universe overnight... it changes how you move through it. Better decisions, clearer instincts, and fewer wasted moves often come from seeing connections others completely overlook. History's greatest thinkers believed wisdom wasn't about controlling reality — it was about understanding it deeply enough that reality started making sense.

So here's a question worth thinking about... if life has invisible rules hiding in plain sight, what changes the moment you finally start seeing the entire board instead of just your next move? - A Facebook post by ‘Elevenshot’

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

Namaste 🙏

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Mysticism

Mysticism involves an inward search, often requiring discipline, to go beyond the ego and personal identity to discover a deeper, true self. 

The goal is to transcend ordinary limitations, including the intellect and the ego, to achieve a state of direct realization or enlightenment.

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What if your strongest guide has been speaking to you your entire life... and you've been trying to silence it?

Across ancient civilizations, there was a strange belief that the universe didn't communicate through words — it communicated through signs, symbols, and the quiet language of experience. While the mind can argue with itself endlessly, your deeper instincts often react long before logic catches up. That's why so many old traditions treated intuition as a compass rather than a coincidence. They believed your inner responses weren't random emotions but subtle signals pointing toward alignment or warning you when something was out of balance.

Modern life teaches us to overthink everything, yet history is filled with stories of explorers, inventors, and philosophers who trusted an inner knowing they couldn't fully explain. Maybe the greatest mystery isn't whether the universe is sending messages... maybe it's whether we've forgotten how to recognize them. Every decision carries a feeling before it becomes a thought. The real question is which one have you been following?

So here's something to think about: if your intuition has been quietly trying to guide you for years... how different would your life look if you finally started listening instead of doubting? - A Facebook post by ‘Elevenshot’

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

Namaste 🙏

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Mysticism

Mystical experiences are often described as transformative, altering the lives of those who have them by fostering higher states of consciousness, unconditional love, and a sense of unity with all existence. 

While it has roots in various religious traditions, modern mysticism is found across many cultures and spiritual paths, not being tied to any specific philosophy. 

The core of mysticism is the belief that one can experience spiritual truth directly, rather than relying on revealed or conceptual knowledge. 

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Everything is vibratory in nature. Vibrations impinge on our outer senses, leading to perception and formation of realities. Perceptions and realities help us to understand the physical world about us. Colour, in its pure form as vibration, is an actuality. Colour, as we perceive it, is a reality. - Rosicrucian Digest

When we speak of man, we have a conception of humanity as a whole, and before applying scientific methods to, the investigation of his movement we must accept this as a physical fact. These ties cannot be seen, but we can feel them. I cut myself in the finger, and it pains me: this finger is a part of me. I see a friend hurt, and it hurts, me, too: my friend and I are one. And now I see stricken down an enemy, I care least for, and it still grieves me. Does this not prove that each of us is only part of a whole? - Nikola Tesla

You are eternal Consciousness, currently in this wonderful physical body for the thrill and exhilaration of specific focus and creation. The physical being that you define as 'you' stands on the Leading Edge of thought, while Consciousness, which is really your Source, pours through you. And in those moments of inexpressible elation, those are the times when you are wide open and truly allowing your Source to express through you. - Unknown

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

Namaste 🙏

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Mysticism

Mystical experience involves moving beyond normal awareness, through practices that quiet the mind and dissolve identification with the personal ego. 

Mystical pursuits often lead to a radical, positive transformation of the individual, providing deeper meaning to life and the ability to act with greater wisdom and compassion. 

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The task, and joy, of a mystic is to listen for the stirrings of the sacred in the world and the presence of soul. What the mystic seeks to hear is not a message or even a sound. It is something more subtle and less glamorous. The hearing of a mystic is not really auditory at all but more a deeply focused yet widely extended attentiveness. - Unknown

A full-spectrum approach to human consciousness and behaviour means that men and women have available to them a spectrum of knowing – a spectrum that includes, at the very least, the eye of flesh, the eye of mind, and the eye of spirit. - Ken Wilber

I would say that in my scientific and philosophical work, my main concern has been with understanding the nature of reality in general and of consciousness in particular as a coherent whole, which is never static or complete, but which is in an unending process of movement and unfoldment. - David Bohm

To no longer resist the present is to see that there is nothing but the present - no beginning, no end, nothing behind it, nothing in front of it. When the past of memory and the future of anticipation are both seen to be present facts, then the slats to this present collapse. The boundaries around this moment fall into this moment, and then there is nothing but this moment, with nowhere else to go. - Ken Wilber

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

Namaste 🙏

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Mysticism

Mysticism is the journey Inward. Mystics embark on an inward journey, seeking to explore the depths of their own consciousness and soul. This journey often involves practices such as meditation, contemplation, and prayer.

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There’s a saying which states ‘Religion is for the masses, and mysticism is for the individual’. If you want to be a sheep and follow along with the masses to get a generic, candy-coated version of your spirituality, then follow the teachings of the Christian fathers. If you want to explore your won individual spirituality, you must go deeply inside yourself, instead of through church doors. - Jordan Maxwell

Mystical attainment is an individual accomplishment. Others influence our way of approaching life, but the development of the inner self must be undertaken in solitude. It is by retreating within, facing the real self, and relying on his own resources that the way to mastery of life is achieved. - Unknown

Although each of us obviously inhabits a separate physical body, the laboratory data from a hundred years of parapsychology research strongly indicate that there is no separation in consciousness. - Russell Targ

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

Namaste 🙏

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Mysticism

Mysticism is the journedy Inward. Mystics embark on an inward journey, seeking to explore the depths of their own consciousness and soul. This journey often involves practices such as meditation, contemplation, and prayer.

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There’s a saying which states ‘Religion is for the masses, and mysticism is for the individual’. If you want to be a sheep and follow along with the masses to get a generic, candy-coated version of your spirituality, then follow the teachings of the Christian fathers. If you want to explore your won individual spirituality, you must go deeply inside yourself, instead of through church doors. - Jordan Maxwell

Mystical attainment is an individual accomplishment. Others influence our way of approaching life, but the development of the inner self must be undertaken in solitude. It is by retreating within, facing the real self, and relying on his own resources that the way to mastery of life is achieved. - Unknown

Although each of us obviously inhabits a separate physical body, the laboratory data from a hundred years of parapsychology research strongly indicate that there is no separation in consciousness. - Russell Targ

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

Namaste 🙏

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The Mystical Life

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This is the mystical life; the living of a practical and useful life in the world, ever seeking greater knowledge and understanding; helping others when the need arises, with a mind and heart uplifted and illuminated by the light of the Divine Consciousness within us.
As you attuned yourself with the Inner self, you will receive inspiration and enlightenment on how you may best utilize your abilities for the good of others. - Unknown

We can never know how greatly an individual may have changed the course of his life. We cannot know the extent of his suffering, struggling, and battling against odds that we might consider insurmountable. We can never know what he may be sacrificing. We cannot know what the Cosmic is directing him to do. Let each of us make sure that he is doing what the Master Within has pointed out for him to do. Let each live according to his own Light, doing what he feels the divine urge to do even though it be menial or casual work, seemingly unimportant and unrelated. There will be no time to note whether others are living the life as we think they should. - Unknown

The divine light residing in each of us awaits recognition and use. Its light will illuminate our mystical endeavours and trigger deeper insights into our daily affairs.

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

Namaste 🙏

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Mysticism

In the contemporary usage "mysticism" has become an umbrella term, conflated with spirituality and esotericism.

Practices associated with mysticism include meditation and comtemplative prayer. Mysticism can be distinguished from ordinary religious belief by its emphasis on the direct personal experience of unique states of consciousness, particularly those of a transcendentally blissful character.

In the widest sense, mysticism is every guidance to the immediate awareness of what is not reached by either perception or conception, or generally by any knowledge. The mystic is opposed to the philosopher by the fact that he begins from within, whereas the philosopher begins from without. The mystic starts from his inner, positive, individual experience, in which he finds himself as the eternal and only being, and so on. But nothing of this is communicable except the assertions that we have to accept on his word; consequently he is unable to convince.

- Wikipedia

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Mysticism . . .is a path of incarnation, not of escape. - Unknown

For problems that arise when one steps into the shadow, the obvious cure is to step back into the sunlight. - Unknown

Once we have seriously embarked upon the mystical path, we begin to look upon the conditions in the world from the higher point of view. - Unknown

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Wishing you a pleasant experience on your spiritual journey.

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Mysticism

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Prayers

The true mystic never prays to God with a petition that He intervene in human affairs in accordance with a conclusion reached by the petitioner. The mystic, in other words, never attempts to analyze human situations or to pass judgment upon them and, on the basis of that judgment, to petition God to intervene in a manner that will adjust conditions in accordance with the human conception. The mystic knows that to attempt to do this is the attempt to assume the infinite understanding of our human problems and to put one’s human self and human conception and understanding on a par with Divine Understanding.

What the truly humble and understanding petitioner should express in his prayers are the most rational and reasonable desires of his heart, based upon his comprehension of universal law, order, and universal justice.

The mystic would not ask for that which he might need and yet realize that it is something that if granted to him would deprive someone else of it, nor would he ask for that which he should earn or create himself or obtain by the sweat of the brow. He would not ask for that which if given to him would constitute a unique or extraordinary expression of divine mercy and love unless he has earned it through some extraordinary gifts to human kind given in the name of God, nor would he ask that certain things be done that are of purely local value and interest to a few and of no concern to the majority or perhaps of opposite value to a majority.

Take for an instance, the conditions that existed during the great World War (I) when many Christian countries were lined up on either side of the battlefield as enemies. Throughout all of the Christian countries involved in the war there were constant prayers offered not only in the homes of individuals but also in the churches on Sundays and other days by representatives of religion. These prayers were often long petitions to the God of the universe to make the individual country in which the church was located victorious in the war.

This meant that during the war there were thousands of ministers in six or eight countries asking that God bring sorrow, grief, pain, and suffering, loss of life and vanquished positions to thousands on the battlefield while in other countries ministers, devoted to the same Christian religion or other forms of religion, were praying to their God that their people be saved from pain and so-called death but that the soldiers on the opposite side be visited with His wrath and judgment.

Can any mystic or any rational person believe that God took any interest in our human affairs at that time, to such an extent that He would have listened to these petitions and granted victory to one side and disgrace to the other? And can we believe that if God had any personal interest in us merely as human beings He would have allowed the World War to have been started or to continue for even a day, let alone several years?

It is only when we believe and understand that God was interested in the souls of these persons and realized the lessons that they would learn through such conflict – through such resort to primitive instincts, to such violation of divine and man-made laws, and to such repudiation of the higher instincts of human brotherhood – that He permitted the war to take place or that he permits other wars or other things here on earth to affect our existence.

The mystic cannot believe that God is concerned in human experiences to such an extent that He is watching what we eat and is ready to intervene in our partaking of wrong food because it may cause us ill-health; or that, having an interest in our human welfare and, therefore, knowing of our wrongful acts, He remains wholly indifferent, refuses to intervene, and deliberately allow us to suffer while He is conscious of our human situation.

For these various reasons, the mystic claims that God is not interested in us as human beings and that He will not grant us the petitions we utter as human beings and will not intervene in our purely human experiences. He does believe that God is mindful constantly of the spiritual evolution taking place within us and that He guides and directs our affairs so that this evolution may be maintained and increased in its value and ultimate contribution to our spiritual unfoldment and progress.

Source of Article Unknown

Incense

Most of man’s customs and habits have had their origin in his physiological and psychological nature. This is especially true in regard to that which either gratified man or which he experienced as unpleasant. Man’s sentient experiences were the fundamental guide in his primitive state. Though we can well presume that primitive man had no concept of the nature of good and its opposite, yet those sensations that were pleasing to his senses were the preferred state, and those contrary, he avoided. Man came to select his foods by their succulence and sweetness; and that which pleased his sense of smell was likewise categorized as having a special agreement.

With the advance of polytheism and anthropomorphism, human-like qualities were attributed to the gods that man conceived. Therefore, the gods likewise desired those substances and materials which gratified man, and were thought to be irritated by that which man found offensive. It was then incumbent upon man to placate the gods if he wished them to be propitious in their relations with him.

Special foods, herbs, barks and plants having an agreeable odour were offered to the gods in sacrificial rites. Such a practice was the beginning of magic and primitive religion. If certain areas were consecrated to the worship of the gods, such as the natural elements, the sky, earth, and stars, which were apotheosized as supernatural beings, fragrant flowers were strewn upon the ground or placed on altars. This, it was thought, made the gods conducive to the appeal of the worshippers.

The earliest of these odoriferous substances used in this manner were frankincense and certain gum resins extracted from trees and plants.

Aside from its practical uses as a mean of dispelling offensive odours or for religious rite, incense perpetuates a mystical and esoteric symbolism. To the mystical adherent, the symbolism becomes an objective form of his subjective idealism and sentiment. The burning, the scent, the smoke has no import in themselves; they simply portray the spirit of the thoughts and emotions of the user.

The glow of the fire symbolically depicts the zeal and devotion of the adherent to his cause. The fragrance, the agreeable scent, is symbolic of the harmony of transcendent pleasure. Finally, the smoke represents the ascension of the consciousness, the projection of the finite nature of man to the infinity of the Cosmic.

Th Secret Knowledge

There have always been legends and traditions about secret knowledge. At the root of most religions is some form of secret knowledge, a gnosis or inner realization that can be attained and may even be promised.

In secret societies and lodges there is another kind of secret knowledge – words, signs, symbols, and lore – all of which may appear in written form, but have additional meaning that is communicated private. Teachings within these secret societies are better described as private rather than secret.

The naïve searcher for secret knowledge might expect to find some magical fact or formula, something specific and objective that can be grasped and memorized. But the prime characteristic of a gnosis is that it cannot be communicated; it is said to be ineffable. It is a realization that cannot be physically transferred from one person to another. Yet it is attainable, and verifiable, by individual discovery.

Moreover, there are methods and programs leading to this discovery. But such teachings are usually venerated and preserved in private, esoteric societies. Tradition usually includes the idea that this knowledge, and any teachings that lead to its discovery, should be guarded and withheld from unworthy persons. Worthy seekers are inducted and led step by step on the path. Initiatory degrees and rituals in such orders dramatize the steps and foster the discovery.

Yet the big secret is that there is no secret, that this knowledge is really not secret at all! It is there for eyes that can see or ears that can hear. In spite of its supposed secrecy, much of it has been spoken and published very plainly – but still goes undetected.

Consider in this light the many cryptic statements in Christian and other sacred scripture. These statements, too are for the initiated. Without the key, without the personal preliminary development, they remain undeciphered. With the key, they are stating, bold statements reflecting a radically different realization. So, it is secret only in this strange way, protected by its own arcane nature, and by our lack of development.

It is easy (as in these comments) to continue saying much about such secret knowledge, but this is like talking about water – it does not quench the thirst. It is better to be told, “Here is a path to the spring, where you must learn to drink for yourself.”

Moral Bigotry

Some of the greatest blood baths of mankind have been committed in the furtherance of religious faith. Though most of the declared sacred writings are opposed in their moral codes to the taking of life and advocate the brotherhood of man, hatred and intolerance yet prevail in the name of religion. Devout faith is often blind and even willfully closes the mind to historical fact.

Sacred books have been numerous through the ages; some preceded the Bible by centuries, and many still exist today. Yet some of the most renowned sacred personages never left any writings, as, for example, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammed. There were no personally written accounts of their revelations or preachments. Some of their revelations were recorded centuries later by scribes who reduced the verbal accounts that had descended to writing.

The original revelations of such prophets were deemed sacred. Each prophet was considered to be a personal conveyor of a revelatory message that was proclaimed to be inspired by the transcendent, Supreme, Divine Being. However, the eventual written form of these messages, as history relates, suffered from the human interpretations of the original verbal accounts.

Many theological controversies arose as to what sections of these works would be accepted in conforming to the rituals and doctrines that the priests and theologians wished to promulgate. This confusion resulted in the schisms now existing in some of the sects today. Many followers of a faith will nevertheless accept the often-altered accounts of these sacred works as being the revealed word of God. They overlook the fact that, historically, various deletions have been made and that new constructions of meaning were inserted by quite human religionist councils of the past.

It is difficult to reconcile the divine transcendency and compassion of a God with the human attributes that members of religious sects have ascribed to Him. Man has often characterized his God, in various faiths, as jealous, as advocating retribution and even the destruction of the life of disbelievers. Even the human taint of envy and hate has found its way into these sacred tomes.

Intolerant attitude

The religionist may accept the monotheistic concept of a sole God, yet he too often cloaks this same God in a raiment of those limiting definitions established by the theology of his faith. This, however, results in a dichotomy with both commendable and detrimental aspects. It is commendable in that each man may create his God, not in essence but in the image he conceives or which he wants to believe. There cannot, of course, be a universally accepted concept of God, for the mental construct varies with the depth of understanding of the individual. However, the concept is detrimental when man’s individual image of God engenders intolerance; simply, the belief, held in all sincerity, that “the God I envision is the right one; all who think and believe differently are heretical and an affront to my God.”

This attitude of zeal for a religious concept which is believed to be the only true one results in adverse emotional and psychological reactions toward all others who do not subscribed to it. It inculcates a spirit of defiance against all the different promulgated religions. Such other adherents are condemned as ‘non-believers,’ that is, they lack the spirituality that can only be had by the followers of a certain particular faith.

At this point, bigotry and intolerance enter. These bigots expound that their moral precepts and particularly their interpretation of sacred writings should become the social standard of morality. They openly affirm that they are the “moral; majority,” which can be construed as meaning that those who do not think in conformity with their ideas are immoral!

Now, no one religion should have conferred upon it the right of purging moral decay according to its precepts and interpretation. The fact is that some of these fundamentalist sects, of which the “moral majority” is mostly composed, become so constrained in their thinking as to want to prohibit acts which are basically humanitarian.

Each human must find his own spiritual enlightenment. It must be intimate to him. It must represent the sublimity of his moral motivation and understanding. If one’s religious and spiritual beliefs do not obstruct the faith of others or are not detrimental to the welfare of society, and are tolerant of the worthy qualities in others, then no religion can advocate more beneficence for its followers than that. Certainly, such moral idealism and behaviour is worthy of any divine beneficence that may be bestowed upon man.

Extracted from the article Moral Bigotry

Nature's Cycles

In nature, the withering of the flower is as important as its blooming. They are both phenomena which are a part of a series of changes called Cause and Effect. In a sentient being, such as man, there is an idealizing of one of these changes more than of the other.

Man arbitrarily divides nature’s cycles, calling the beneficial phase positive and the other, negative. He seeks to evade the decline because it is unpleasant to him. He has successfully prolonged life but he can never evade the eventual retrogression which must follow to complete the cycle of life.

As one grows older, one should, of course, endeavour in every way to lessen the severity of the impact of physical deterioration. The former pleasures of living in the physical sense, which have meant so much, should be mitigated in later years by new mental and emotional satisfactions.

In the mellowness of life, new positive living may be found in a response to the higher sentiments and psychic inclinations. The aggressive healthy younger person often finds too many satisfactions in objective living to concern himself deeply with the mysteries of life. The cosmic role that one should play in his relationship to all reality, however, usually provides a greater satisfaction to the mature mind. The physical desires which once seemed ultra-important and the notions and things associated with them lose their lustre with the passing of the years. One finds to a greater extent that the pleasures associated with them were either illusionary or evanescent. The interests of a psychic or moral nature which seemed intangible in the past and, by contrast to material satisfaction, less stimulating, can be more assuredly cultivated in the later years. One will then find much happiness in the expression of his aesthetic tastes which may have been unawakened or unexpressed.

Instead of becoming embittered by the advance of age and its gradual physical retardment, one should reorient his interests. He should venture into the realm of his psychic inclinations and meditations. He should find in life images or symbols to objectify the reactivated feelings of impersonal love and sympathy that pour from the depth of his own being as he allows himself to be conscious of the more subtle impulses of his nature.

Detach your consciousness from the myriad changes, the events and happenings in the stream of life. Stop struggling with the tide, for a time at least. Climb up on the bank and watch the course of life which in itself has majesty and beauty. It will evoke our admiration of its pulsating power and omniscience.

- Author Unknown

The Way to the Perfect Life

Life demands that we grow in every way: mentally, psychically, and spiritually. We must develop our full potential as human beings and use these gifts for the benefit of ourselves and others. There is a perfect ideal for man to reach in life and the Cosmic directs, guides, and urges us along the path to attain this ideal. No experience in our life is insignificant. Each change and experience we have always has a purpose in moulding our character and bringing forward various latent aspects of our personality.

Like the rose in full bloom whose each and every petal must unfold, and so must every one of our faculties and abilities be developed.

When change and experience come into our lives, we should try to gain the most from what they offer. We should welcome certain changes from which we know we can gain much needed experience.

The way to the perfect life is something which we individually have to discover and then set out to master.

- Source Unknown

Secrets of Nature

The lessons in life is contained in Mother Nature. In order to learn and benefit from these lessons, one has to be humble. One has to be calm, one has to put aside his ego and his assumed superiority. Only then can he gain greater ‘insight’ into the invisible realities behind the material appearances of creation.

Our objective senses are limited and can be faulty and do not lead us to the truth of actuality. It would be wiser to appreciate nature with our psychic or inner selves.

We need to attune ourselves with the cosmic life force – listen to the voice of existence flowing through air, water – all things as it silently speaks the language which knows no species, nor the barriers of time and space.

- Listen. Really listen with your psychic ear, can you hear the language spoken by a clear, flowing mountain stream? One can listen with the inner ear to any part of nature, be it an element or a friendly four-footed creature. Be still and know.

- See with the psychic eye. We need our inner light to help and guide us in seeing more clearly in the psychic world. See and appreciate the beauty of mother nature – the flowering of a rose etc…..

- ‘Keeping in touch’. Develop your intuition – your sensitivity, and your compassion. Sensibility is the most important step toward attunement of any form. Every human being wants to protect and is so concerned about his or her feelings that we tend to neglect those of the lower creatures of the earth.

Calmness of Mind

Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws of operation of thought. An individual becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being, for such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as a result of thought, and sees more clearly the internal relations of things by the actions of cause and effect. He ceases to fuss, worry and grieve, and remains poised, steadfast, serene.

The calm person, having learned how to govern himself, knows how to adapt himself to others; and they in turn revere his spiritual strength, and feel that they can learn from him and rely upon him. The more tranquil one becomes, the greater his success, influence, and power for good.

The strong, calm man or woman is always loved and revered, like a shade-giving tree in a thirsty land, or a sheltering rock in a storm. Who does not love a tranquil heart, a sweet-tempered, balanced life? It does not matter whether it rains or shines, or what changes come to those possessing these blessings, for they are always sweet, serene, and calm. That exquisite poise of character which we call serenity is the flowering of life, the frontage of the soul. It is precious as wisdom, to be more desired than gold.

Many people ruin their lives and mar their happiness by lack of self-control. Humanity surges with controlled passion, is tumultuous with ungoverned grief, and is blown about by anxiety and doubt! Only the wise man, whose thoughts are controlled and purified, makes the winds and the storms of the soul obey him.

- Source Unknown

What Good Can We Do

Life is a complex experience of triumph and trials bringing opportunities for the growth of our personality. Life, which can be difficult and hard to bear, also provides moments of great joy and happiness, and at times we experience a peace of mind that makes our search for the greater light even more valued each day.

Let our problems become stepping stones to progress, and our difficulties will become the next step on the upward path to the attainment of greater peace and harmony. Each day should provide those experiences which, upon reflection, cause the inner self to become a little wiser and better able to adjust to life’s problems.

Our problems, difficulties, and burdens in life are more easily borne when we realize and accept that we are living souls having personalities which need to grow in light and understanding through the trials and experiences of daily life. We then see our burdens as opportunities for advancement, but we need not face these problems alone. The ever-present and vital divine consciousness is always urging us to adjust to the present times and circumstances, and it is when we resist these normal and natural changes taking place within that frustration and difficulties occur. When we seek within, allowing the inner self to guide us through the promptings of the still small voice within, we can see and accept things from a wiser point of view.

No matter how hard the task, or difficult the trial, know within yourself that there is an ever-present spiritual force leading you through and upwards to success and achievement.

One important cosmic law is “As you give, so shall you receive.” It is important that we learn to give of ourselves and we must follow the urging and prompting of the inner self in order to fulfil this law.

We so often forget to give to others that which needs to be given and which is due to them. This may be a word of thanks, of praise and appreciation, or telling someone close that you love them. Do not deny what is rightly due to others; give freely of yourself, but let the giving come sincerely from within. Do not withhold your words of praise or your words of rebuke, for these may be precisely what others need to help them on their way through life.

Let your motives be pure when giving of yourself, since this is how we are judged on the inner side of life. This law says it is AS we give that is of prime importance, for we will receive in accordance with the way we give, as much as with what we give.

However, giving is only a part of this law. We should also give much thought to the principle of receiving. Esoterically, it is important that we learn how to receive what is rightfully due to ourselves. We can so often retard our own happiness and progress because we have not learned how to receive graciously. We cannot always be giving unless we are also prepared to receive. The love, the praise, and the happiness others want to share with us is necessary to our growth.

There are many things both of a material nature and a spiritual nature that we have earned and deserve, but we must allow ourselves to become receptive to accepting them in our lives. Therefore, this law of giving and receiving requires much thought and meditation in order that we may give wisely and fully of our real selves and gracefully receive what is rightfully ours, thus bringing a greater abundance of success and prosperity to us as well as much love and happiness. We learn many important lessons from life once we have come to truly realize that “As we give, so shall we receive.”

By Robert E Daniels, F.R.C.

The Trials of Life

The burden of life often presses hard upon us, destroying the harmony and peace of our minds and consciousness, bringing anxiety, worry, and sometimes despair.

These trials, although difficult to bear, are often necessary for us, since in our desire for greater things in life we cause an inner reaction to be brought into effect. The trial seems like a setback, yet it really is an opportunity to learn an important lesson and remove an obstacle to our desired attainment. It is often necessary to remove these obstacles, attitudes of mind, and ways of living in order to pave the way for greater progress, thus enabling us to attain our visualized ideals.

However, we so often blame other people for our difficulties and problems that we fail to realize that our personal Karma is teaching us a valuable lesson needed at this time. If we can see beyond the frustration, we will see the wisdom of the Cosmic working in our behalf even though we may be somewhat wounded.

We therefore provoke our own problems by our desires for improvement. Yet our negative thoughts make the lesson more difficult to bear, and if we would allow our consciousness to become attuned within, permitting the inner self to express itself, we would more clearly see the wisdom within our daily trials.

Life demands that we grow in every way: mentally, psychically, and spiritually. We must develop our full potential as human beings so as to use these gifts for the benefit of ourselves and others. There is a perfect ideal for man to reach in life, and the Cosmic directs, guides, and urges us along the path to attain this ideal. Life is a school, and we are all pupils undergoing training and a purposeful discipline in it. No experience in our lives is insignificant. Each change and experience always has a purpose in molding our character and bringing forward various latent aspects of our personality.

Within the Divine Consciousness is held the perfect pattern of that to which we should evolve. Each experience and each change we pass through is part of the Cosmic’s plan to lead and guide us toward that perfect pattern. Like the rose in full bloom whose each and every petal must unfold, every one of our faculties and abilities must be developed.

Life, which can be so beautiful, is often a burden difficult to bear because our thoughts are turning on a spiral of self-interest. We think of our own needs, our own feelings, and our own desires. Such thoughts bring little, if any, comfort. Yet when we turn our thoughts within, and express and our love for family and friends, we will find that our thoughts are suddenly uplifted and a new awareness has begun to awaken in our hearts and minds. We will no longer be so concerned about our own desires and our problems; rather we will find satisfaction in sending and thinking good thoughts about others.

The time has come for man to seek a new and better way of life, one that will bring real satisfaction and peace of mind. It has always been close at hand and readily available to all who would seek within. But only the few have chosen to travel this path to a greater realization of the meaning of life. The fascination with the pursuit of pleasure has been the tempter which has kept the masses of people from ever seeking that which is their natural birthright.

The realization of a greater and more significant meaning of life’s values is a refreshing change on the world scene. It reveals a growth of spiritual consciousness in the lives of increasing numbers of people who have come to see the fallacy and limitations of the pursuit of materialism. There is a growing realization that life’s great values must be more enduring than the empty satisfaction which the material life brings.

Once the trend becomes an accepted way of life, it will strongly influence the rest of humanity. Our interest in the mystical life can have an influence in the lives of others if we learn to radiate love, harmony, and peace of mind in our thinking. If we set a high standard for our own behaviour at all times, it will prove to be a great blessing to all those with whom we come in contact.

As we attune our thoughts each day with the divine consciousness within, we allow the spiritual forces to guide our lives and activities. A love of life grows and develops and we see our influence change the lives of others. Love, the law that makes all things possible, will allow to see our occasional trials as an aspect of the divine growth that is taking place within us. We will thus have the assurance that the Cosmic is always present, guiding and urging us to adjust to the present time.

- (extracted from the article The Trials of Life by Robert E. Daniels)

The Scope of Evolvement

The forces of nature continue to function regardless of what man may do. The seasons of the year, the rotation of the earth, and the various changes that take place in our immediate surroundings became the function of what we call natural laws. The effect of these forces is inevitable. Therefore, we are placed in the position of working with these forces or being swept along by them.

As man accumulated knowledge and experience, man began to grow in his understanding of certain natural laws and forces that were previously unexplainable. The general growth in understanding and use of knowledge can be generally classified as evolvement.

We do not know when man first began to try to understand his environment. We do know the process of evolvement is still taking place. Man is still attempting to explain the manifestation of certain universal laws. There still exists a vast area of the unknown.

Evolvement is an aim of life. Whether we are dealing with the physical world and the physical characteristics of man, or with the transcendental world commonly known as the world of the spirit and the psychic make up of man, evolvement is one word which we can apply toward man’s attempt o gain in the understanding and adjustment to an area previously unknown to him.

Life evolves step by step, taking on characteristics in each step of the process. We face many choices of the evolvement process through which we pass. The choices are many, and the living organism faces such a variety of choices in the process of evolution that it would be difficult to determine in advance how the evolutionary process might proceed.

Life is an evolutionary process, and life will continue to change, be modified and affected by external environment and by the process of life itself.

Evolution continues because it is a manifestation of the life force itself as expressed in matter, on the other hand, psychic evolvement is a volitional process.

The mature individual today begins to reflect upon his place in life and in the universe and tries to determine the meaning of all that he experiences and learns, thereby making his consciousness a more important factor of his existence than his physical body or any physical functions.

In developing physically, we develop the attributes to realize that the physical world, the entire universe and all of its laws and manifestations are, in the final analysis, only vehicles which we temporarily use in order to evolve our physic consciousness and gain awareness of the soul.

Life sprang from the Divine, and when it consciously realizes its divine nature it will return to the Absolute and be a part of it. Man is a godlike entity who can communicate with the Divine and reunite himself with it. Evolvement, then is man’s reaching out to become a part of the Divine about which he is entitled to know more and to experience fully. Since psychic development is a volitional process – a decision that man can make – will man evolve, or will he let the experience of life and the greed to possess the physical world overwhelm him so that the evolutionary process will have to continue until such time as life may express itself in a form capable of realizing its divine nature and divine origin?

Those mystics aware of the reality of the psychic world have reached degrees of peace and understanding expressed in their writings and which they try to pass on to their fellow men. This degree of peace, harmony, and a profound satisfaction in their relationship to divine forces is what man can look at for the moment as his aim of evolvement. It is through our understanding of mysticism that we can work to become truly at one with the Divine.